⭐ 🚀 Les noces de diamant du roi Siméon II et de la reine Marguerite de Bulgarie

La reine Marguerite et le roi Siméon II le jour de leur mariage religieux.

Aujourd'hui, Leurs Majestés le Roi Siméon II et la Reine Marguerite de Bulgarie célèbrent soixante ans de mariage !

Siméon et Marguerite discutent de leurs fiançailles, 1961.

La bague de fiançailles.

Les fiançailles du couple furent annoncées le 10 août 1961 par la mère de Siméon, Giovanna : « Sa Majesté la reine mère de Bulgarie a le plaisir d'annoncer les fiançailles de son fils Siméon, roi des Bulgares, avec Señorita Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela. » Ce jour-là à midi, le roi et sa fiancée tinrent une conférence de presse à la résidence royale de l'Avenida del Valle. Le couple révéla que Siméon avait rencontré Margarita quelques années auparavant lors d'une fête à Madrid ; cependant, c'est environ un an et demi avant leurs fiançailles que leur relation s'était transformée d'une amitié en une romance. Margarita reçut de son fiancé une bague avec un gros rubis serti de diamants. La reine mère Giovanna offrit à sa future belle-fille une broche en platine sertie de trois émeraudes entourées de diamants.

Marguerite et Siméon après leur mariage civil.

Le samedi 20 janvier 1962, le roi Siméon II de Bulgarie et doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela se marièrent civilement à l'hôtel de ville de Lausanne, en Suisse. Le colonel Georges Guentchjeff fut le témoin du roi Siméon, et don José Luis Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela celui de sa sœur. La sœur du roi révéla plus tard que le couple avait également célébré auparavant un mariage catholique intime à Madrid. Le roi Siméon était naturellement de confession orthodoxe bulgare, tandis que la reine Margarita était de confession catholique romaine, qu'elle conserva après leur union.

Le roi et la reine de Bulgarie nouvellement mariés. La reine mère Giovanna et la princesse Marie Louise sont à l'arrière-plan.

A day later, on Sunday, 21 January, the couple celebrated their religious marriage at the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Megalomartyr Barbara in Vevey, Switzerland. The ceremony was conducted by Metropolit Andrey of New York, Head of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church in Exile, Bishop Antony, Head of the Orthodox Church in Switzerland, and Father Igor Troyanov of Saint Barbara’s Church. The nuptials of the king and queen was attended by 400 guests. Aside from King Simeon and Queen Margarita, the royal attendees present were the following: Queen Mother Giovanna of Bulgaria, Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria and Prince Karl Vladimir zu Leiningen, Queen Mother Geraldine of Albania, Archduke Andreas Salvator of Austria, Prince Ludwig of Baden, Prince Irakly Bagration-Mukhransky, Prince and Princess Viggo, Count and Countess of Rosenborg, King Farouk of Egypt and his daughter Princess Fawzia, Princess Zahra Khanzadi Sultana of Egypt and her daughter Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanum Sultana, Prince Michael of Greece, Landgrave Philipp of Hesse and his son Hereditary Prince Moritz, Fürst Emich zu Leiningen, Duke Christian Ludwig and Duchess Barbara of Mecklenburg, Princess Marie Clotilde Napoléon, the Duke of Parma, Prince Louis Ferdinand and Princess Kira of Prussia with their son Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, and Prince Tomislav and Princess Margarita of Yugoslavia. Other noble guests from Spain and Europe included: Prince Dimitri Romanoff, the Marchioness of Winchester, the Duque and Duquesa de Almenara Alta, the Marquesa de Zurgena, Gräfin Viktoria zu Solms-Rödelheim und Assenheim and her son Erbgraf Markwalt zu Solms-Rödelheim und Assenheim, Conte Calvi di Bergolo, the Condesa de Alba de Liste, the Vizconde de Tuy, the Duquesa de Andria, and Conte Carlo Colonna.

Queen Margarita.

In February 1962, Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria, who was living in Oakville, Canada, with her first husband, granted an interview to Stasia Evasuk of The Ottawa Journal about the royal wedding. The princess shared her recollections: “The wedding went off smoothly. I can’t tell you where Simeon and his bride are honeymooning. They’ll live in Madrid where my mother has her official residence since the Communists are still in power in Bulgaria. I’ve known the bride for years. I met her in Spain where I lived for seven years with my brother and mother before my marriage. She has no close relatives. Everyone in her family was killed by anti-Franco forces in the Spanish civil war except her and her brother. They were saved by a nanny. The night before the wedding there was a reception for 400 guests at the Lausanne Palace Hotel. I enjoyed seeing old friends I hadn’t seen for a long time. [On the wedding day,] my mother wore a deep purple silk dress with a matching velvet coat and I wore a pink and brocaded gold dress with matching silk coat. The bride wore a long white silk gown embroidered with pearls. She looked simply beautiful.” Queen Margarita of Bulgaria wore the Bulgarian Fleur-de-Lis Tiara.

The King and Queen with their children and grandchildren, 2007. Photo (c) HM King Simeon.

King Simeon and Quen Margarita have five children: Crown Prince Kardam, Prince of Tirnovo (1962-2015; married Miriam Ungria y López); Prince Kyrill, Prince of Preslav (b.1964; married Rosario Nadal y Fuster-Puigdorfila); Prince Kubrat, Prince of Panagjuriste (b.1965; married Carla-Maria Royo-Villanova y Urrestarazu); Prince Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin (b.1967; married Maria Garcia de la Rasilla y Gortazar); and Princess Kalina (b.1972; married Antonio “Kitin” Muñoz Valcárcel). The King and Queen of the Bulgarians have eleven grandchildren. The royal couple live at Vrana Palace.